Vice President Kamala Harris will need to pull out extra tools in her arsenal to appeal to her own party as her likeability among Democrats is slowly decreasing.
While 73% of Democrats approve of Harris's job performance as of April, a recent Fox News poll shows that her favorability is ticking downward compared to surveys taken at the beginning of the year, when she had a 77% approval rating — the latest sign that Harris could weigh President Joe Biden down as he campaigns for reelection in 2024.
KAMALA HARRIS PREPARES FOR REELECTION: 'LIABILITY' OR 'LEADING MESSENGER'?
However, among Republicans and independents, the vice president's approval rating is making some headway. Favorable views of Harris among Republicans rose from 8% in January to 15% in April and 30% to 36% among independents, the latter of which could have a significant effect on the election's outcome as candidates look to appeal across the aisle and find a middle ground.
Despite a dip in Harris's favorability rating among Democrats, her overall favorability rating has improved since the beginning of 2023, increasing from 39% in January to 43% in April.
Currently, her overall job approval rating sits at 43% approve and 54% disapprove, which is better than the low ratings she saw in January 2023 and July 2022. People's opinion of Harris has fluctuated over the months, sitting at 41% favorable vs. 57% unfavorable.
However, Harris's ratings are not unique to her, according to Democratic Fox News pollster Chris Anderson.
"Harris’s ratings are mostly a reflection of our highly partisan environment in which there appears to be a hard cap on approval ratings for national politicians somewhere in the mid-forties," Anderson said to the outlet. "Harris is in the same boat as all the other national politicians."
Harris's future in national politics is under scrutiny as the Biden administration gears up for a second campaign. The Biden campaign will likely put significant effort into bolstering her performance and likeability over the next year, while Harris herself works to rally Democratic voters to go to the polls, highlighting key hot-button issues such as abortion, gun control, and LGBT rights.
Some strategists believe that as a vice president paired with an over 80-year-old running mate, attention will be on Harris to determine whether she is strong enough to take over the role should Biden be unable to serve as president for all four years of a second term.
GOP candidates have highlighted this fact as well. Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), a GOP presidential candidate, got people looking at elected officials' ages after suggesting a mental competency test for politicians over 75, which includes Biden and former President Donald Trump. She said voters should, in turn, be paying attention to the abilities of the vice president heading into 2024.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"This uncertainly about Biden’s mental competence means Americans must consider the actual competency of the vice president. Kamala Harris is one of the most incompetent elected officials in the country. Her failures in foreign policy and managing the border are too numerous to mention — to say nothing of the word salad that defines her unscripted remarks," Haley wrote in an op-ed on May 1.
The Fox News poll was conducted between April 21-24 with 1,004 registered voters nationwide, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.